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NY Heritage: High salt marsh | Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed.
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Name: NY Heritage: High salt marsh Reference: Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed. Description: A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide up to the limit of spring tides. It is periodically flooded by spring tides and flood tides. High salt marsh typically consists of a mosaic of patches that are mostly dominated by a single graminoid species. The dominant species in many large areas are either salt-meadow grass (Spartina patens) or a dwarf form (15 to 30 cm tall) of cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora); also common are large areas dominated by spikegrass (Distichlis spicata), black-grass (Juncus gerardii), and glassworts (Salicornia spp.), or a mixture of salt-meadow grass and cordgrass. Characteristic species of the upper slope of the high marsh (the area that grades into salt shrub) are black-grass, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), sea-lavender (Limonium carolinianum), seaside gerardia (Agalinus maritima), and slender saltmarsh aster (Aster tenuifolius). Characteristic animals include salt marsh mosquitoes (Aedes spp.), greenhead flies (Tabanidae), coffeebean snail (Melampus bidentatus), sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus), marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris), eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna), clapper rail (Rallus longirostris), and American black duck (Anas rubripes). coastal salt marsh ecosystem; it occurs in a complex mosaic with several other communities. Other communities in a salt marsh ecosystem include salt shrub and brackish meadow at the upland border of the high marsh; sea level fen in rare cases associated with freshwater seepage at the landward edge; low salt marsh at the seaward border of the high marsh and along the edges of tidal creeks that drain the high marsh; and salt pannes in shallow depressions within the marsh. High salt marshes can be further classified by landform type following Oertel and Woo (1994) into mainland fringe-marshes, mid-lagoon marshes, and backbarrier fringe-marshes.  Accession Code: VB.CC.28639.NYHERITAGEHIGHS Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 7
	Party Perspective according to: Howard, Timothy Perspective from: 03-Dec-2004 to: ongoing
	status: accepted Community's Parent: NY Heritage: ESTUARINE SYSTEM This Community's Children: [none]		Names:   Other: NY Heritage: High salt marsh